Affiches - Gallery 3 ()

LE PHOTOGRAPHE SESCAU (Sescau, Photographer)
: Paul Sescau was a photographer from Montmartre. His good friend
Maurice Guibert introduced him to Lautrec. They become friends and each
man used his artwork to immortalise the other (see photography section).

1895

MAY BELFORT : this poster was
produced for May Belfort’s entry into the Petit Casino. May Belfort
was an Irish artist who appeared on stage dressed as an English baby wearing
a bonnet tied with ribbons and brightly coloured dresses, and sometimes
holding a small black cat in her arms and singing “…I’ve
got a little cat, I’m very fond of that…”. Lautrec discovered
her at the “Décadents” (the Decadents) in 1895 when he
went to see Jane Avril. The painter fell for her charms and adopted her.

1895

LA REVUE BLANCHE (The White Review) :
Lautrec collaborated with the review, for which he illustrated, amongst
others, Tristan Bernard’s "Le chasseur de chevelures" (the
tail hunter). Thadée Natanson, one of the founding brothers of the
White Review, was married to sculptor Godebski’s daughter Misia. Musician,
artist, beauty, seduction personified, she was the review’s muse.
Naturally Lautrec chose this young woman to appear on the 1896 poster.

1895

MAY MILTON : Lautrec nicknamed
her “Miss as well”, because every time Jane Avril was invited
to supper, she wanted to bring “Miss” as well. Also, May was
a redhead, and the painter loved redheads. May Milton was only on stage
in Paris for one season.

1895

LE TOCSIN OU LA CHATELAINE (The Tocsin
or the Lady of the Manor) : after the success of the “Pendu”
(the Hanged Man), Toulouse paper “La Dépêche” (The
Telegraph) ordered a Lautrec poster to illustrate Jules de Gastyne’s
“Le Tocsin” (The Tocsin). The poster represents the beginning
of the series: a rich young man living in New York, moved by an article
in a French daily newspaper, decides to go back home to France to do good
deeds.

1895

NAPOLÉON : Lautrec entered
this lithography for the poster competition to illustrate William Sloane’s
book “Life of Napoléon Bonaparte” in New York in 1896.
Since it didn’t win any of the three prizes, it wasn’t used
as a poster. The painter did however make 100 numbered copies of the poster
and sign them by hand.

1896

CYCLE MICHAEL (Michael Bicycle) :
Lautrec had a passion for cycling. He became friends with Spoke, alias Louis
Bouglé. Spoke had young prodigy Mickaël in his team, who is
shown in the poster along with journalist Frantz Reichel standing up and
trainer Choppy Warburton to the left bending down. This print never became
a poster, and was cancelled at 200 copies.